African Studies and the Question of Diasporas
Abstract
- Abstract
- en The concept Diaspora applied to Africa is a misnomer of sorts, bearing in mind that Africa was the original home of the oldest human beings. Science has discussed how the earlier waves of emigrant Africans (humans originally domiciled in Africa) have adapted to their environment, becoming various shades as melanin presence dictated. Later groups are in India, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, the Americas: black skinned, flat nose, but with various forms of stretchered out hair. These earlier groups are not called, technically, Diaspora. Only recent migrants to the West, Europe, Asia Minor, Asia and the Americas are called Diaspora: they migrated voluntarily for various reasons or they were forced out of Africa as captives. Part of the challenges that African Studies instigate are fraught because of (a) the participation of continental Africans in slavery wars in Eastern, Central Africa, Northern and Central Africa; (b) the Middle Passage of the Atlantic and the Sahara/Pacific; (c) the empty baggage syndrome and epistemicide and, (d) the Willie Lunch Syndrome of Divide and Conquer exemplified in Obama phenomenon. African studies writ large must then encompass (a) Repairing the Breach; (b) Recovering the Heritage - Calypso, Blues and Jazz, Reggae, Rastafari, Sports; (c) Restoring Indigenous Knowledge Systems by erasing epistemicide and (d) Restoring the African humanity. These efforts must be multi/inter disciplinary and encompass all domains of human intellectual theory and practice. Recovering the human intellectual traditions and knowledge systems of continental and Diasporas would be a treasure trove of ideas to solve many of the challenges faced by humanity today; this will require transcending what Claude Ake has dubbed “Social Science as Imperialism”. In this essay, I attempt to sketch what would constitute a more appropriate, historiographically accurate and globally judicious understanding of African Studies that is holistic. My goal is to sketch an African Studies that is not segmented on the basis of the agendas of exogenous forces bent on decimating global African peoples, by playing diverse groups against each other, but one which recognizes the continuity of human heritage as primarily African heritage writ large, and one which recognizes that the African Diasporas, recent and classical, are all continuous with Africa feeding and renewing the world with humanity by virtue of being the original home of humanity. This calls for so many different approaches, but primary being the complete overhaul of the current curricula used to programme the minds of humanity, especially those emanating from European climes, to persist in negro-gaze: the objectification and exoticization of Africa and peoples of Africa globally, thereby derogating their humanities and agencies.
Subjects
People & roles
- list of editors
- Maurus, Sabrina
- Place of publication
- Bayreuth
Origins & context
- Title
- African Studies and the Question of Diasporas
- Publication type
- Working paper
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Institute of African Studies
- Series
-
Africa Multiple connects
Value Annotations
Value Annotations
- volume
- 2
- Date
- March 24, 2021
- Number in series
- 25
- pages
- VI, 16
- Number of pages
- 16
Identifiers & sources
Full text
- Full text
- 25 University of Bayreuth African Studies WORKING PAPERS African Studies and the Question of Diasporas John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola Bewaji 25 University of Bayreuth African Studies WORKING PAPERS African Studies and the Question of Diasporas John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola Bewaji, 2021 University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers 25 Africa Multiple connects 2 ii Institute of African Studies (IAS) The University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers are published by the Institute of African Studies (IAS), Bayreuth, Germany. The IAS promotes and coordinates African Studies involving scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines covering almost all faculties at the University of Bayreuth. The IAS acts as umbrella organization and has three central units: the Iwalewahaus, the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, and the Africa Research Center (Forschungszentrum Afrika, which is under construction). The IAS coordinates research and teaching as well as the training of junior researchers, cooperates with partners worldwide and facilitates the exchange of information between persons and institutions engaged in research and teaching in or about Africa. In the Working Papers series, we present empirical studies and theoretical reflections, put preliminary findings up for discussion and report on ongoing projects and current research. The Working Papers usually reflect work-in-progress; all contributions relate to African Studies in general and Bayreuth African Studies in particular and invite discussion and feedback. Submitted papers are subject to internal review at the University of Bayreuth. Contributions can be submitted to the editor-in-chief Sabrina Maurus (sabrina.maurus@uni- bayreuth.de) The University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers feature on the EPub document server at the university library: 2005 - 2018 https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/view/series/Bayreuth_African_Studies_Working_Papers.html 2018 - ongoing https://epub.uni-… Read the full text about 9,042 words
Records on similar topics
Records about similar topics, from anywhere in the collection and in any language. The percentage shows how closely each one matches this record.